Timeline: How the wheels disastrously came off for Wallabies in their record defeat to Argentina
Argentina players celebrate during their big win over Australia.
History was made in Santa Fe on Saturday as nine-try Los Pumas handed the Wallabies a historic 67-27 defeat in round four of the Rugby Championship.
The impressive shift from Argentina handed the Wallabies the worst defeat in their history as well as being the most points scored against Australia in Test rugby. What’s more impressive was the rate at which points were scored by the hosts who trailed 3-20 at the 30 minute mark.
Planet Rugby takes a closer look at the timeline of events that saw Australia go from leading by 17 to losing by 40 in just over a half.
The Wallabies build a lead
4th minute: Argentina fly-half Tomas Albornoz gets the scoreboard moving on his second Test start with a fairly straightforward penalty. (3-0)
6th minute: The Wallabies do not waste time to send their reply with a penalty from Ben Donaldson effectively cancelling out the first score of the game. (3-3)
15th minute: After some sustained pressure in the Santa Fe heat the Wallabies are finally rewarded with a try from Carlo Tizanno that is converted by Donaldson. (3-10)
23rd minute: Donaldson was on hand to add another three points as the Wallabies took their chance to build scoreboard pressure. (3-13)
29th minute: The visitors only grew after the Tizzano try and not long after strung together a neat play down the right-hand side that ended with Max Jorgensen casually playing Andrew Kellaway in for a try converted once again by Donaldson. (3-20)
Floodgates opened
32nd minute: Argentina finally connected one of their plays after an error-ridden first half an hour with hot-stepping Mateo Carreras going over for their first try of the day. Sharpshooter Albornoz obliged from the tee. (10-20)
38th minute: Momentum has now fully swung into Los Pumas’ favour and their inspirational skipper Julian Montoya marked his 100th cap with a close range score that Albornoz converted on the stroke of half time. (17-20)
48th minute: The second half began like the first ended with Argentina well and truly on the charge, this time with Juan Martin Gonzalez crashing over for yet another converted try. (24-20)
58th minute: Everything is going Los Pumas’ way at this point and they made their dominance count again as Pablo Matera powered over for his try after a strong strike play off a scrum. The conversion was good again. (31-20)
63rd minute: The ever impressive Albornoz added three more points as Argentina looked to get out to a two-score range over the Wallabies. (34-20)
64th minute: The situation continued to worsen for the Wallabies as powerhouse replacement Joaquin Oviedo scored his first converted try thanks to a lovely offload on the back of some piercing running down the right-hand side. (41-20)
69th minute: In an effort to escape further damage, the Wallabies finally managed to get their hands and the ball and mark upfield. Livewire replacement Tate McDermott caught the Argentine defence napping with a quick tap try, converted by Tom Lynagh. (41-27)
Horror finish for Wallabies
72nd minute: The worst case scenario for the Wallabies began to materialise as Argentina found some serious rhythm looking like they could score with every single play. They did through fullback Juan Cruz Mallia after an intricate set of passes. Albornoz would finally miss a kick at goal. (46-27)
76th minute: Mallia would not have to wait long at all to get on the score sheet again and it happened down the right side as it did for his first. At this stage, Argentina are absolutely firing on all cylinders. Albornoz made no mistake with the kick at goal. (53-27)
78th minute: Los Pumas would not take their foot off the Wallabies’ jugular and Oviedo continued his field day with another try, completing his brace. This time around, Santiago Carreras kicked the conversion. (60-27)
80th minute: As if hitting the 60-point mark was not enough, Felipe Contepomi’s men pushed forward again to add to the scoreboard. Silky centre Lucio Cinti was the scorer on this occasion and well deserved after having a stormer in the 13 shirt. Carreras rubbed salt in the wounds with another conversion to finish the Test. (67-27)